Washington Township Water Is Nearly Lead-free * Lehigh Authority's Supply Is Within U.s. Standards. Test Requirements Can Be Eased.

September 24, 1997|by ELIZABETH BARTOLAI (A free-lance story for The Morning Call).

Tap water that Lehigh County Authority provides to Washington Township residents now has lead levels within federal standards, meaning it can test and notify its customers less frequently.

"This is very good news," authority spokeswoman Karen Snyder said Tuesday.

Lead levels have fallen during two consecutive tests, triggering the looser regulations, Snyder said.

Snyder said the authority's 361 Washington Township customers had received notices reporting lead levels in their quarterly bills. Now, she said, the detailed brochure will be sent to customers annually.

But occasional reminders advising residents to continue to run faucets to flush the lines before drinking the water will be included in the newsletter it sends to customers, Snyder said.

She said the authority still must test for lead annually for three years. Previously, it was required to test for lead every six months.

Tests first showed high lead levels in the water of residents served by Trout Creek reservoir in 1993. In April 1995, the authority abandoned the reservoir as its water source for water from Slatington's filtration plant.

Sixteen of 20 homes tested in 1993 showed levels above the "action level" of 0.015 milligrams per liter set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Snyder said the latest tests, finished in June, showed only two of 20 homes had lead levels above the action level. In November, test results also showed lead levels dropped below the action level in 18 homes.

The number of affected homes is now below the percentage at which EPA would require a water company to report water conditions to its customers.

For six years, EPA has mandated testing for lead and copper at the customer tap. This type of testing recognizes that while source water may have acceptable lead levels, lead can get into drinking water as a result of corrosion of lead materials in the water distribution system and household plumbing.

The authority water also has acceptable copper levels, Snyder said.

More recently, water tests in the Slatedale area of Washington Township showed the presence of coliform bacteria. A leaflet was sent to 200 customers this month telling of the findings and reporting the system has returned to normal.

The samples found "total coliforms," which have been detected previously and are not harmful. Further tests revealed no presence of harmful fecal coliform. But federal law required the authority to send the information to affected water customers.